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Intro: Fairport Convention - Medley: The Lark in the Morning/Rakish
Paddy/Fox Hunter’s Jig/Toss The Feathers - Liege & Lief - A&M Records
Home Service - Napoleon's Grande Marche - Wild Life - Fledg'ling Records
www.homeserviceband.co.uk/
Keith Kendrick - Napoleon's Dream - Songs From The Derbyshire Coast - WildGoose Records
www.keithkendrick.com/
Franke Harte & Donal Lunny
- Eighteenth of June - My Name Is Napoleon Bonaparte - Hummingbird
John Tams - Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier - Over The Hill And Far Away
The Music Of Sharpe - Virgin Records www.johntams.co.uk/
Mawkin-Causley - Drummer Boy For Waterloo - The
Awkward Recruit - Navigator Records www.mawkin.co.uk/ www.jimcausley.co.uk/
New Scorpion Band - Why Soldier Why? - Why Soldier Why? Songs of Battles
Lost and Won - Soundalive Music
www.new-scorpion-band.com/
The Halliard - With Wellington We'll Go - The
Last Goodnight! - Mollie Music Records
www.nicjones.net/
Karan Casey - Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye - ships in the forest - Compass
Records www.karancasey.com/
Barry Dransfield - Grand Conversation - Unruly -
Violin Workshop www.barrydransfield.com/
Franke Harte & Donal Lunny
- Green Linnet - My Name Is Napoleon Bonaparte – Hummingbird
Niamh Parsons - Done With Bonaparte - Heart's Desire - Green Linnet
www.niamhparsons.com/
Brass Monkey - the duke of wellington's march - Flame Of Fire - Topic
Records www.brassmonkeyfolk.co.uk
This coming Thu Jun 18 marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of
Waterloo. For tonight's program notes I am indebted to English folk music
authority (and king of the Free Reed CD box sets!) Nigel Schofield for the
use of his notes composed for a 200th anniversary-themed evening to be held
Fri Jun 19th at the celebrated Bacca Pipes Folk
Club in Keighley, W. Yorks
www.baccapipes.org.uk
We start with post-battle Medical News – Waterloo, June 19, 1815
:KIA: 47,000, English dead – 15 thousand, Prussian dead – 7 thousand,
French – 25,000 dead, So back we go….to a field in what was in
1815 The Netherlands…And a battle, after which Wellington
remarked “After a battle
lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.”
June 17:
On the eve of the Battle Of Waterloo, The Duchess of Richmond held what
has been described as “the most famous ball in history”. Many
of those attending planned to observe next day’s battle as paying
spectators. It was even said that some of Wellington’s aristocratic
officers were more skilled at “waltzing as warfare.” Every
officer was invited, one of whom wrote in his journal :- “…of the
many beautiful ladies there…many accompanied their husbands…but
there were unattached daughters and compliant camp-followers….all in
search of a husband – their own or somebody else’s.” One
of the delights of The Duchess of Richmond’s tour was a Belgian
Dancing Master, who taught the English a new dance. It became the sensation
of 1815 at balls in England, where Lady Jersey gave instructions on how to
perform it. And that’s how we got The Quadrille. Most of
Wellington’s officers attended the ball. While the duke made his
excused and made a timely departure, others stayed into the early hours so
that they arrived on the field of battle – in the words of the Iron
Duke, “drunk, spunked and improperly
dressed.”
Midnight: Waterloo sits on an insignificant crossroads in Belgium, about
eight miles south of Brussels. Wellington spent the night before the battle
in an inn the town. His allies, General Blucher and the Prussians were
camped 18 miles to the east. Napoleon sheltered in a barn, three miles
south. He felt confident.
6AM:
It rained heavily all night. From the diary of Lieutenant Ingleby of The Royal Horse Artillery:-
“The streets of Brussels were deserted…I managed to get a hasty
breakfast at the Hotel d’Angleterre with a
gentleman anxious for news, who proved to be Admiral Malcolm. I carried off
a cold fowl for my Troop who I knew had nothing.” Wellington had
ordered that any man caught looting or poaching would be shot on sight.
Napoleon despised Wellington, whom he thought incompetent. Having heard of
the failure of supplies to reach the English front line, he made his famous
statement about an army marching on its stomach. When news came through of
the distance between the British and Prussian armies, Boney felt certain of
victory.
9AM
A Letter from Sergeant-Major Edward Cotton of the 7th Hussars, “As
morning advanced and all were in motion, one might imagine the whole plain
undergoing motion. Imagine 70,000 men huddled together. The buzzing
resembled the distant roar of the sea.”
Wellington moved his troops to form a defensive line blocking the French
advance on Brussels. It stretched between two farms - Papelott
and Heugomont. At its centre
was the larger farm of Le Haye Sainte. Heavily
outnumbered, he hoped to hold the line until the Prussians arrived.
Surveying the terrain, Napoleon decided to delay his advance. He had
several reasons:-
·
The rain had made the ground too wet to move
his guns
·
His Cavalry would tire wading through the
mud
·
His piles were particularly uncomfortable
Instead he launched a diversionary attach on Wellington’s western
flank. He told his officers: “Have no fear. He is a bad general. The
English are our breakfast.”
11:30AM:
Following a heavy artillery barrage, Napoleon’s brother led an
attack on Heugomont Farm. The British had
barricaded its wall After an hour, defences gave
way and the farm fell to the French. It was a trap. Wellington’s
troops closed in. Of 140 French infantrymen within the farm, only Pierre,
the 11 year old drummer boy, was spared
1PM:
Thinking he had divided Wellington’s line, Napoleon ordered 18,000
men to advance on the British centre. Too
uncomfortable to ride, he watched through a telescope. Then, he spotted
movement in the fields to the east. He dispatched a troop of cavalry to
investigate.
2:20PM:
Lord Uxbridge led the cavalry charge on the advancing French. Their
front line was The Scots Greys in scarlet and tartan. They were under the
command of Lord Ponsonby, who spurred them
forward with a cry of “Death or Victory”.
Lieutenant Richard Winchester of the 92nd Highlanders described the
scene:- “The Scots Greys came up at that
moment, doubling round our ranks and through our centre.
Both Regiments charged together calling ‘Scotland For Ever’ and
in less than three minutes the French Column was totally destroyed and two
Eagles captured.” Wellington knew it was all or nothing. Without
reinforcements, he could not have risked another attack.
3:30PM:
The French reached Blucher’s Prussians in the East. The French
thought they were still advancing to position, but they were all ready for
battle. Their canon fire told Wellington they were in place. Napoleon was
now forced to fight on three fronts.
4PM:
Marshall Nay led the attack on the British stronghold at Le Haye Saint. He was determined to capture the British centre for the French and split Wellington’s
army. Wellington ordered his troops to form squares. They fought off the
advancing French, but then fell prey to artillery fire. One square –
the 27th Regiment – consisted of 747 soldiers: 500 of them were
killed by shell-fire.
6:15PM:
Faced with heavy losses, Wellington retreated to a new defensive line.
The French advanced to take his former stronghold.
7PM
Napoleon decided to advance on Wellington’s new line. He forgot
the English entrenched on his right. His troops were caught in cross fire.
Captain Powell of the First Foot Guards was an eye witness:- “In less than a minute 300 went down. Now they
wavered, the rear divisions began to draw back, firing on their own lines
in confusion. We now drew back and consolidated our positions. ”
7:15PM:
Hiding his troops in long grass, Wellington gave the order “Stand
still – stand firm”. As the French appeared in the open, he
shouted “Fire!” The French front line was mown
down…behind them they heard the charge of the advancing Prussians.
8PM:
Lord Uxbridge was sitting alongside Wellington observing what he later
called “the closing overs of the battle”. A shell exploded on
his right hand side. Looking down he observed. “By God! I have lost
my leg.” “Have you, by God?” replied the Iron Duke. After
the battle, the leg was amputated and became a tourist attraction after it
was pickled and displayed in Brussels.
8:15PM:
Knowing he was defeated, Napoleon fled, protected by his personal
bodyguards. Wellington instructed his men not to pursue. He said of the
battle: “It has been a damned nice thing: the closet run thing you
ever saw in your life.”
A post battle report from Major E Frye: "This morning I went to
visit the field of battle, the sight was too horrible to behold. I felt
sick in the stomach and was obliged to return. The multitude of carcasses,
the heaps of wounded men with mangled limbs unable to move, and perishing
from not having their wounds dressed or from hunger."
Wellington’s Victory Command was simple “Forward, lads, and
complete our victory. No cheering, mind – This is not Battle, this is
Slaughter.”
Wellington, of course, became a national hero…He
re-entered politics three years later and became Prime Minister in 1828. He
took the bold step of refusing to live at 10 Downing Street, which he
described as “a pokey hovel”. Instead he lived in his own home,
Apsley House, modestly known as Number 1, London.
Wellington Boots – which he had designed – became an essential
item of men’s fashion – originally, they were made of
waterproof leather. Restaurants served a dish he loved – boeuf en croute, now renamed Beef Wellington. The name of his
most famous victory became shorthand for a decisive defeat.
In 1817, Waterloo Bridge was opened: work began on it in 1809, but it
was renamed in honour of the victory; a monument
to the dead of Waterloo was unveiled in Park Lane on the seventh
anniversary of the battle in 1822. Waterloo Station opened on the
anniversary of battle in 1848. The French were less than delighted when, in
2007, it became the UK terminus for Eurostar.
In the Peace Treaty signed after Waterloo, The English, French and
Prussians agreed never again to fire in anger on Belgian soil. The treaty
was broken on August 4, 1914 when a German soldier mistakenly fired on a
Belgian farmer defending his property. The rest is history…
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